Why Govt Should Focus More On Women, Art, Craft And Creative Industry - NEWOMCII
By Peter Dansu
The Nigerian government has been called upon to focus more on women, art, craft and creative industry.
The National Coordinator of New Dawn for Women and Community Intervention Initiative (NEWOMCII), Hajia Saadatu Adamu Bokane, a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, dedicated to empowering women, youth, and vulnerable communities, said the country's economy can grow with focus on these areas.
Hajia Bokane, accompanied by the National Secretary, Mrs Change Osuji, speaking to journalists, ahead of the organisation's National Launch and Book Unveling, slated for Tuesday, April 28, the National Coordinator said NEWOMCII saw a gap that women has the potentials but lack the opportunity, access to resources and information to actualize their potentials.
According to her, the NGO was registered eight months ago and swung into action August 2025, adding that NGO was conceived by Alhaji Bolaji Raji, the founder and the Chairman of the NGO.
He he said their founder has been involved in charity works before now amd has support for Nigerians privately but felt that he should expand the organisation by coming up with an NGO and that was what led to the establishment of the organisation.
Hajia Bokane said, "He is someone who grew up among aunties, so he acknowleges the role of women in the society. He felt the NGO should be women oriented because women are result oriented.
"The NGO has two thematic areas, Agriculture and art and creativity. We felt that that sector of art and culture have been neglected over the years. The contributions of women in art, craft and creative industry have been so silent for so many years.
"Nigeria as a nation is supposed to diversify into art, craft and creativity. There are a lot of funds lying idle in UNESCO and Nigeria is one of the countries contributing to UNESCO and we don't even have the knowlege of what we are supposed to tap into.
"If we go into the rural areas, even, before the emergence of white collar jobs, people are training their children and running their daily lives with their indigenous arts and crafts.
"Women are contributing immensely in that area and most of these women are in the rural areas. They don't even know how to access facilities and they are contributing silently to the economy.
" So, we felt that we should touch these categories of people in our society. If you go deep, back into history, women are the ones that discovered agriculture.
"In the two areas of our focus, we have touched about five areas councils in the FCT. We started with FCT because we believed it is the heartbeat of the nation, so, one of our pilot projects kick-started in the FCT. In the aspect of agric, we have touched a village in Bwari Area Council, where we met women who are into rice and corn farming.
"They were 45 in number, out of which 20 were widows. We interviewed them and they said since they started there hasn't been any government intervention and no NGO has ever come to their aid.
"The only NGO that came only took them to their farms, snap pictures with them and never came back again. We were the first to reach out to them and within 10days, we supplied them with what they needed. They complained of farm implememts to harvest their produce. After providing them with the tools they needed, they were happy and said they've never witnessed that kind of gesture before.
"We have monitoring and evaluation team, who visited them the second time to ensure that what we supplied to them, they are making good use of it".
She said the organisation also visited a community in Karu, where women were empowered with modern facility to ease their work of art and craft.
NEWOMCII has been in operation for less than one year and has presence across Nigeria (in all the 36 states + Abuja), and has impactful success stories.
The organisation focuses on skills development, economic empowerment, and community-based interventions.
By Peter Dansu
The Nigerian government has been called upon to focus more on women, art, craft and creative industry.
The National Coordinator of New Dawn for Women and Community Intervention Initiative (NEWOMCII), Hajia Saadatu Adamu Bokane, a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, dedicated to empowering women, youth, and vulnerable communities, said the country's economy can grow with focus on these areas.
Hajia Bokane, accompanied by the National Secretary, Mrs Change Osuji, speaking to journalists, ahead of the organisation's National Launch and Book Unveling, slated for Tuesday, April 28, the National Coordinator said NEWOMCII saw a gap that women has the potentials but lack the opportunity, access to resources and information to actualize their potentials.
According to her, the NGO was registered eight months ago and swung into action August 2025, adding that NGO was conceived by Alhaji Bolaji Raji, the founder and the Chairman of the NGO.
He he said their founder has been involved in charity works before now amd has support for Nigerians privately but felt that he should expand the organisation by coming up with an NGO and that was what led to the establishment of the organisation.
Hajia Bokane said, "He is someone who grew up among aunties, so he acknowleges the role of women in the society. He felt the NGO should be women oriented because women are result oriented.
"The NGO has two thematic areas, Agriculture and art and creativity. We felt that that sector of art and culture have been neglected over the years. The contributions of women in art, craft and creative industry have been so silent for so many years.
"Nigeria as a nation is supposed to diversify into art, craft and creativity. There are a lot of funds lying idle in UNESCO and Nigeria is one of the countries contributing to UNESCO and we don't even have the knowlege of what we are supposed to tap into.
"If we go into the rural areas, even, before the emergence of white collar jobs, people are training their children and running their daily lives with their indigenous arts and crafts.
"Women are contributing immensely in that area and most of these women are in the rural areas. They don't even know how to access facilities and they are contributing silently to the economy.
" So, we felt that we should touch these categories of people in our society. If you go deep, back into history, women are the ones that discovered agriculture.
"In the two areas of our focus, we have touched about five areas councils in the FCT. We started with FCT because we believed it is the heartbeat of the nation, so, one of our pilot projects kick-started in the FCT. In the aspect of agric, we have touched a village in Bwari Area Council, where we met women who are into rice and corn farming.
"They were 45 in number, out of which 20 were widows. We interviewed them and they said since they started there hasn't been any government intervention and no NGO has ever come to their aid.
"The only NGO that came only took them to their farms, snap pictures with them and never came back again. We were the first to reach out to them and within 10days, we supplied them with what they needed. They complained of farm implememts to harvest their produce. After providing them with the tools they needed, they were happy and said they've never witnessed that kind of gesture before.
"We have monitoring and evaluation team, who visited them the second time to ensure that what we supplied to them, they are making good use of it".
She said the organisation also visited a community in Karu, where women were empowered with modern facility to ease their work of art and craft.
NEWOMCII has been in operation for less than one year and has presence across Nigeria (in all the 36 states + Abuja), and has impactful success stories.
The organisation focuses on skills development, economic empowerment, and community-based interventions.
